How Maintenance Reminder works?

[ilikemypassat]

Originally Posted By: Michelob
I have owned a 2008 Civic 33 days as of today and a guy I work with has owned his somewhere up to a week before I bought mine.
I set the cruise at 60 on the highway and he does 75, I start out smoothly and gradually increase speed to save gas. He does not beat on his car but gets up to speed faster than I do. Today somewhere between 1510 and 1545 miles my MM dropped to 80%. That is the same miles his was at when his went to 80%. Percentages of highway and city are probably fairly close between us and the other day I got caught in bumper to bumper traffric for the first time for probably 20 to 30 minutes.

If they take into account every factor I would think that the fact I drive mine much softer than he does proven also by the fact I am getting better gas mileage than him that his MM would drop sooner than mine but that is not the case.


I have owned my 2008 Civic for 50 days today. I noticed it change to 80% after 47 days and apx. 1025 miles. All of the driving this car has done is <30 minutes trips of 10 miles or less with the occasional 20 mile trip to the in-laws. So you can see how much difference there can be, just for reference.

 

[jaj]

Originally Posted By: Doug Hillary
Hi,
jaj - You are observant. As Motul is now owned by BP-Castrol my choice of lubricant "cuts the mustard" then


Zut alors! Does that mean that ELF is the only true red-white-blue choice left?

 

[Doug Hillary]

Hi,
jaj - It was just a joke..................

 

[jaj]

Originally Posted By: Doug Hillary
Hi,
jaj - It was just a joke..................


Hmmm... of course I should have known better - it would be like EM buying Redline, n'est-ce pas?

Meanwhile, my new E92 M3 has a "condition based monitor" for engine oil. It starts with 25,000KM showing to the next change. Well, after 2,600KM of modest driving since the last change, it's showing 21,000KM left to go. At this rate, it'll cut the interval nearly in half! I'm just glad that for the first four years of ownership, the 9 liters of TWS are the dealer's problem if the gizmo says "waaahhh! change me!"

 

[Doug Hillary]

Hi,
jaj - Yes the monitors are ceratinly different. I had a Z3 2.8 and it was a simple device. Benz now have very complex devices - in this Country the avg OCI with these is around 17kkms

The MB heavy truck division has used a proper (sensors immersed in the bulk oil) oil condition monitor for some time now

Porsche still say 20kkms or two years (about to come back to one year for MY09 cars with DI engines)

 

[jaj]

The new BMW CBM has a sensor in the oil that measures level and condition - there's no dipstick, in fact there isn't even a place they could have put one.

When the factory fill is changed at 2000KM, there's a dealer Tech Bulletin that says they have to recalibrate the Oil Monitor for TWS - apparently it has a different dielectric constant than the factory fill. Presumably if you run a different oil, you'll get erroneous results.

 

[Doug Hillary]

Hi,
jaj - Yes that is why Factory Approved lubricants are so important today. I have tried to push that point here on BITOG for some years now but the non-believers win........

I only use factory Approved lubricants after much experience dealing with those experts "that know better". Fixing up the aftermath is often costly and painful - especially with engines that cost near $50000 each!

TWS 10w-60 is an excellent product!

 

[AcuraTech]

My two cents:

My girlfriend got an 08 Civic LX sedan in March. She does a mix of highway and rush hour traffic, all with a lead foot. The odometer currently reads approximately 5600 miles and it's at 40% oil life remaining. I'm gonna leave it in until 15%, and then do an oil and filter change with a factory filter and Pennzoil Platinum Syn.

Am I worried about engine damage? Not so much. Especially following the MM system and using a quality synthetic, which extends the OCI by a bit. Honda engines have always been a strong point, and will run just fine at 200K if basic maintenance was followed.